Ghost Company on Prothera
+++Prothera, Core Worlds, Sector Deus, Segmentum Obscurus+++ +++297.332.M41+++ A solitary Thunderhawk speeds out of the colossal launch bay of the Space Marine Battle Barge ‘Aspera Dominus’. The pilot checks his instruments, preparing to enter into the atmosphere of the planet below, Prothera. It was once a verdant Agri-world, and fed most of the subsector, but six years ago, the Chaos Sorcerer, Ashkenor the Wrathbringer, destroyed its archaic weather control systems, and plunged the planet into a hellish land of unending and devastating natural disasters, culminating in an approaching ice age. The Ghosts of Retribution answered Prothera’s call for aid against the Chaos Space Marine raiders, but they failed to prevent the destruction of the weather cathedral, and failed their duty to protect the Sector. Nevertheless, the Space Marines resolved to fix the cathedral, and dispatched one of their ships to Mars, the only planet with the knowledge to repair the ancient cathedral. By either good fortune or the will of the Emperor, the ship reached Mars and returned to Prothera at an incredible speed, and the Ghosts of Retribution poured resources into rebuilding the cathedral as soon as possible. However, as the inclement weather receded, a much deeper problem arose. Ashkenor was still on Prothera, and quietly influencing the leaders of Auctumnus, one of the three post-apocalyptic city-states, which are challenging each for rule of the planet. To make matters even worse, he had captured an Eldar Farseer, and he planned to sacrifice her to open a warp portal linking Prothera to a daemon-world, through which plague-infested reinforcements would arrive and assault the planet. This was an unacceptable outcome, so the Chapter Master decided to mount a mission to rescue the Farseer before she was sacrificed, and dispatched three Revenants of the Ghost Company. Solenos, Turiel and Kurt checked their weapons and armour in the troop bay of the Thunderhawk, all of them thinking of the mission ahead. The pilot announces through the vox: “Approaching infiltration zone, prepare for jump.” The Revenants affixed large grav-chutes to their armour as the front ramp of the Thunderhawk eased open and gusting winds blasted into the interior. Approaching the edge, the Revenants stood side-by-side, awaiting the order. The Thunderhawk slowed its pace until it was hovering still, and the pilot spoke once more: “Over infiltration zone, jump on your go.” The three marines jumped as one into the air, and rapidly descended towards the ground. Activating their grav-chutes they slowed up considerably and Sergeant Solenos called over the vox to his brothers: “Activate cloaks.” The marines faded from view as the cloaking technology within their advanced and rare armour took effect, rendering them invisible to the naked eye. As they passed the tips of the higher surviving spires of Auctumnus, they scanned for a suitable landing zone. Kurt was the first to spot one: “Courtyard, to the south-west.” Solenos and Turiel approved, and they directed their grav-thrusters to propel them towards the large courtyard with a half-destroyed statue of some long-dead figure of the planet’s past. Touching down in the abandoned space, they dumped their chutes and drew their weapons, Solenos had a boltgun with an auxiliary grenade launcher, Turiel, the marksman, had a Stalker Bolter, and Kurt had his temperamental Plasma Gun. After scanning the deserted area for hidden threats, they deactivated their power-hungry cloaking fields and began moving towards what orbital scans had concluded to be the most likely location for Ashkenor and the Farseer, the massive prison block of Auctumnus, large and strong, it was one of the few buildings to survive the weather calamity unscathed. Travel was difficult through the ruined city, what use to be roads were now mountains of metal and concrete, the constant ascension and descension was arduous and increased the distance many times over. When they were about half-way to the prison block night was beginning to fall, despite them landing in mid-afternoon. Clambering to the top of yet another pile of wreckage, the trio of marines came across a broad chasm, around fifteen metres wide, where the pile had collapsed, Solenos thought fast: “Kurt, give me a boost.” Kurt kneeled down with his back to the cavern, and his hands cupped, Solenos took a run up and placed his right foot firmly into Kurts hands, pushing off with all his might as Kurt heaved upwards. Solenos arced over the chasm and landed heavily on the other side, rolling as he did, dusting himself off, he called back: “Alright, throw me a cable.” Turiel took out a thick cable from his belt pouch and tossed one end over to Solenos, and they both affixed their end to overhanging beams of wreckage. Kurt and Turiel grabbed the wire and hauled themselves over the gap. Setting his Plasma Gun to a low power, Kurt fired a pulse at where the cable was affixed on the side they just departed, releasing the cable and allowing Turiel to retrieve it. Sliding down the pile, the marines moved forward, the surroundings were becoming noticeably more hostile, machine-gun barrels jutted out of gaps in the rubble and errant screams could be heard in the distance. Re-activating their cloaks, they moved deeper into the dangerous territory, soon enough they came across a small group of cultists, around ten in all, stalking through the city streets looking for something or someone to idle their time away with. Solenos signalled to Turiel and Kurt, they swung round to the sides of the cultists, while Solenos moved down the centre. All three moved into covered positions around the cultists, aiming there weapons, and Solenos gave the order: “Fire.” Not a single one of the cultists even got a shot off. The first strike was a grenade from Solenos’ launcher, it detonated right in the middle of the group, three were killed instantly and a further two were riddled with shrapnel, then Turiel’s Stalker bolter took the heads off two more in quick succession, and plasma pulses from Kurt incinerated another couple. Only one cultist was left standing after the opening salvo, he stood stock still, barely able to comprehend that his entire squad had been killed in less than five seconds, his horror was short-lived though, as Solenos put a bolt through his head a moment later. The marines moved towards the pile of bodies, a weak groan was emitted by one of the cultists peppered with shrapnel, the other had already died. Turiel drew his knife and held it to the traitor’s chest: “Tell me where the sorcerer is and I shall hasten your passing!” The cultist spat weakly at the Space Marine: “You can’t..........you can’t stop it......” His body went limp and Turiel curled his lip in disgust: “Filthy scum, glad I didn’t have to taint my blade with his blood.” Solenos ushered them on: “Indeed, c’mon, keep moving to the objective, I can see the prison block from here.” Solenos spoke truly, Kurt and Turiel looked off into the sky and saw the top of the foreboding building. Reloading their weapons the Revenants moved into the vast shadow cast by the prison block against the moonlight as they approached their objective. Soon enough they arrived at the outside of the block, the high outer walls of the area seemed insurmountable, Solenos motioned to a half-collapsed hive-spire nearby: “We’ll get a better vantage point up there.” The marines ascended the hive spire, carefully navigating the unstable walkways until they reached the highest floor that wasn’t rubble. Turiel peered down his Stalker bolter sights and scanned the perimeter of the block: “Main entrance on the north side, as scans showed, but there’s at least a dozen Red Giants guarding it and a tight barrier we wouldn’t be able to bypass without alerting them. No other gaps in the block wall....” Solenos was troubled: “Damn it all, we can’t attack the front or they’ll kill the Eldar before we can reach her...” Kurt pointed to a wrecked spire on the eastern side: “Over there, you see the large beam jutting out towards the wall? If we use the cable to hang from the end of that, we can swing back and forth to gain momentum and launch ourselves over the wall, it’ll be a hard landing, but it’ll work.” With no alternative, Solenos and Turiel agreed, and the three made their way to the spire Kurt had pointed out. Reaching the base of the jutting beam, about a hundred metres above the ground, Turiel, the most dextrous of the three, edged out onto the thin beam, it groaned alarmingly under the weight of the marine, but held firm. Reaching the end, Turiel took out his cable and tied it round a hole in the beam, then affixed it to himself. Crouching down he took hold of the edge, and gently took his feet off and lowered himself down, moving his hands from the the beam to the cable and shimmying down, he reached the end and began shifting his weight back and forth. The pendulum quickly built up speed and after a few swings Turiel was almost getting over the wall at the apex of the swing. Detaching the cable from his belt, Turiel swing over the wall one last time and released his hands. Turiel landed heavily onto the gravelled interior of the prison block, he righted himself swiftly and raised his bolter, lest any guard heard his landing, fortunately none came so Turiel signalled for Solenos and Kurt to follow suit. When all three were on the ground Solenos assessed the situation: “Turiel, get on top of that wall and wait there for us to return, we might need some cover fire as we make our escape so be ready. Turiel deftly climbed the wall ladder to the wall rampart and perched on the edge, whilst Solenos and Kurt moved across the courtyard area towards the main prison building, looking for an opening in the concrete monolith. Skirting round the wall, they found a low window opening whose glass had been blown-out. Solenos kneeled down beneath it and boosted Kurt up, who grasped the sill and hauled himself up, before lowering his hand for Solenos to jump up and grab. Kurt helped the Sergeant in through the window and the pair found turned around to find themselves in a long hallway with many adjacent rooms with thick metal doors. As they walked past Solenos heard eerie sobs coming from the cells, he peeked in through the bars of one and found that it contained a group of civilians chained to the walls and a large symbol of chaos etched into the floor. Solenos then noticed, to his horror, that each of the civilians had a crude explosive device fitted to his or her chest, Kurt’s hand was placed on his shoulder as his brother spoke: “We can’t save them brother, we would never be able to sneak them all out and none would survive trying to escape from the front entrance.” Solenos was forced to agree: “Sigh....you are right brother, let’s keep checking these cells until we find the one with the Eldar.” The marines made their way down the hall, looking in every cell as they went. As they approached a corner in the hallway they heard heavy foreboding steps and the mechanical whir of ancient servos. Pressing themselves against the wall, Kurt and Solenos watched as a massive Terminator, covered in chaotic sigils and caked with dried blood, turned round the junction and strode past them. Solenos nodded to Kurt and they silently followed the patrolling Red Giant, it reached the end of the hallway, at the window where Kurt and Solenos had entered, and looked out the window for a moment, savouring the thought of the suffering he and his comrades would bring to this planet. Turning away from the window to return to the guard room, he stayed his feet, something felt wrong, he stared intently ahead of him, certain there was something there, despite his vision telling him otherwise. His suspicions were soon confirmed as wisps of super-heated gas became visible around the invisible barrel of Kurt’s Plasma Gun, a microsecond before it unleashed a pulse into the Red Giants head scarcely a metre away. The traitor had barely enough time for his eyes to widen in surprise before the pulse turned his head and helmet into ash. Solenos grasped the falling Terminator and lowered it gently to the floor, making as little noise as possible. Going back and round the corner the Terminator had come from, there were more cells lining the wall so the marines made their way down to the end, checking them. The hallway ended in a junction so they split up and set off down both paths, exploring the labyrinthine corridors and stairways of the prison block. Solenos forged deeper into the prison, he estimated there must be at least two thousand captured civilians within, all wired to die at a moment’s notice. He heard Kurt over the vox: “I’ve reached the entrance to this cell block, there’s a couple more Terminators and about twenty cultists lounging around behind the metal barred entrance door, no way we can get through it. I did manage to lift a pouch of strange glowing stones from one of them though, could be useful for our brothers back home.” “Understood, regroup with me, the Eldar must be down this wing.” Solenos held his position and a short while later Kurt came creeping down the hallway and crouched next to him: “We must be getting close, there’s not much left of the block to explore.” Solenos nodded and the two carried on down the passage, more cells, more people rigged to explode. Eventually they reached the very end, and encountered a large metal barred door blocking the way, with thick words imprinted upon it: ‘HIGH SECURITY WING’ Kurt stated the obvious “Oh this has to be the right way.” Solenos nodded, and cast his eye to the number pad embedded in the wall: “Mhm, but how are we gonna get in?” Kurt took a dataslate from his belt and answered: “Leave it to me.” Gently cracking open the panel’s housing, Kurt took out one of the wires and carefully inserted it into the dataslate, scanning the numerals that sprang up on the slate, Kurt thought aloud: “I just hope the traitors haven’t corrupted the machine-spirit in charge of the facility’s security.....hmm....it’s not in too bad of shape.....I’m telling it our access codes.....good, it’s giving me the combination, two-seven-four-nine-four.” Disconnecting his dataslate, Kurt replaced the keypad housing and punched in the combination, the door swung open and the marines had access. Shutting the door behind them the pair crept off into the wing, which was a large open room with only a few heavy reinforced doors sealing the high security cells. Farseer Adriel was slumped down in the chains that held her to the wall of the pitch dark cell, cursing the fates that had left her in this situation. She heard faint taps from behind the door, and sighed with renewed hopelessness as she tried not to think what abominable tortures the Red Giants would exact on her next. They had already smashed her Ghost Helm in front of her, and ripped the warp crystals from her armour, leaving her vulnerable to both the predations of the warp and physical threats, even worse, the Sorcerer had embedded some kind of disruption array into her armour, similar to the psykic hoods utilised by Space Marine librarians, which was preventing her from using her powers. For the first time in her life she was almost completely oblivious to her fate. She heard some difficulties on the other side, the squealing of bending metal and a sharp snap, then the door swung open and blinding light poured into the dark cell. Adriel’s eyes quickly adjusted to the change in light but when her vision was restored she was still alone in the room. Suddenly a Space Marine materialised out of thin air in front of her, she pulled her face away from the grey armoured spectre, but, rather than attacking her as she expected, it held its finger up to its helmet, indicating her to be silent. Another marine appeared beside the first, and they split open the manacles around Adriel’s wrists. Solenos spoke to Kurt: “I’ll take the Eldar, you activate your cloak and stay ahead of us.” Kurt nodded and faded away, Solenos turned to the Farseer: “Are you wounded or otherwise immobile?” She replied with a mixture of confusion and suspicious: “No I’m fine, physically.....you don’t intend to change that....do you?” “No, we are here to extract you so the sorcerer cannot sacrifice you to open a portal to a Daemon world.” Adirel sighed with relief, though she still did not fully trust the Space Marine, but he seemed to be the only way she was getting out of this prison: “Very well, lead on.” Solenos returned to the cell door and peered outside, seeing all was clear he signalled Adriel to follow and walked out, back through the High Security door and into the hallways. Solenos had to be more careful than usual now he was uncloaked, hugging the wall and checking the way was clear before signalling the Eldar to follow him down the next corridor. Eventually they reached the window the marine entered from, Kurt was waiting for them, and as Solenos approached he hauled himself out of the window and gently landed on the ground below. Adriel looked out the window and remarked sarcastically on the fifteen foot drop: “What an elegant escape route...” Solenos was about to retort when a cultist turned round the corner behind them, for a second he was too shocked for words, but managed to emit a shrill scream before Solenos silenced him with his Boltgun. Acting fast he seized the Farseer and threw her out the window: “No time for elegance now. Kurt!” Hearing the sergeant's call, Kurt saw Adriel falling through the air, caught her and set her down, a moment later Solenos leapt from the window and landed down hard. Suddenly a loud siren began wailing from the prison block, an alarm, so Solenos put Adriel over his shoulder and began sprinting to the compound wall: “Let’s go! Turiel we’re coming in, they’ve raised the alarm.” Turiel’s voice crackled back: “No, really?! Our brothers can probably hear it in orbit!” Turiel took aim with his Stalker bolter as the two marines came running across the gravel, followed by masses of screaming cultists and Red Giants funnelling out of the prison buildings and from the compound entrance. Adriel was furious at the indignity of being carried: “Put me down! I am perfectly capable of running myself!” She soon shut up when errant Las-beams began impacting Solenos’ back, ducking behind his pauldron she grabbed the bolt pistol holstered at his waist and began firing into the cultists and Red Giants pursuing them, killing a few as Turiel pumped rounds into them from atop the wall, picking off the front runners before they got close. Reaching the ladder Solenos went up first while Kurt stood at the base unleashing Plasma into the encroaching foes. Solenos reached the top and pushed Adriel down against the rampart, out of the line of fire, then joined Turiel in providing cover fire as Kurt clambered up, Las-fire peppered the area, with the occasional bolt thudding into the wall and exploding, but none could draw a bead on the invisible Revenant. Once Kurt heaved himself onto the ramparts, Solenos tore the ladder off the wall and kicked it away, smashing into a few cultists as it landed on the compound grounds below. Turiel meanwhile hopped over the other side of the wall and dropped to the ground, signalling for Adriel to follow, but rather than falling into his outstretched arms as he expected, she leapt clear over him and landed softly on the ground, the Eldar was a lot more physically capable than he had expected. Turiel quickly snatched away her bolt pistol and brought up his gun as Adriel turned towards the surrounding urban sprawl, warning her: “I have a clear shot at your head, please do not try to flee.” Sneering at him, Adriel’s condescending tone was reminiscent of an adult reproving a child: “I wasn’t going to run, mon-keigh, I was looking for an avenue of retreat.” Now it was Turiel’s turn to scoff: “Don’t worry your little xenos head about that, we’ve got it covered.” Solenos and Kurt dropped down beside them, and Solenos inquired to Turiel: “You called them in right?” Turiel nodded: “Yes brother, they should be coming in any second now.” Kurt chuckled dryly at these words, but Adriel was drifting towards the ruins nearby: “What are you waiting for! If you’re not leaving then I am!” Solenos raised his retrieved bolt pistol: “You’re not going anywhere princess.” Having used alternate ladders cultists began amassing on the walls, running down the ramparts to get closer to the Farseer and Space Marines, Adriel grew increasingly restless: “What are you doing!” All further speech was drowned out by a deafening noise erupting from the sky as a grey Thunderhawk screeched overhead and unleashed its turbo-laser at the ramparts, reducing much of it, and the cultists, to rubble. Taking advantage of the distraction caused by the crumbling wall Adriel swiftly slunk away from the Revenants and into the adjacent ruins, sprinting through the collapsed dwellings for a bit before trying to prise off the disruption mechanism fused to her Finding little success with the device she ran off again, but a moment later she turned round a hallway corner and straight into a power armoured figure. Striking her head hard on the armour she reeled back for a moment before bringing her fist hard into the un-armoured head of the marine, he staggered as she brought back her other hand, but her arm was seized in the powerful gauntlets before she made contact. The marine then seized her other arm and lifted her bodily off the ground as she kicked futilely at the armoured torso. The marine lifted her up so her head level with his own, she saw only the outline of the marines face in the darkness, with a piercing red light where the right eye should have been. Adriel expected some gloating monologue before she was torn limb from limb, but was surprised when the marine spoke in a fractured Eldar dialect: “You’re not much better at punching than you are at Regicide.” She replied impudently: “I was wondering when you’d honour your word! What took you so long?!” Chapter Master muttered as he put her down: “Oh you’re welcome.....” Dusting herself off Adriel replied: “Yes well.....thank you, that’s a......nice eye you have.” Chapter Master laughed mirthlessly: “Could have been worse. Come, I must rejoin my marines attacking the prison, and you’re coming with me.” Chapter Master pushed Adriel ahead of him as he set off where she had came from, they were soon back in the area in front of the wall, along with the three Revenants, a squad of Terminators and twenty Assault Marines. Chapter Master spoke into his vox: “’Ghost’s Shadow’, make a hole.” The Thunderhawk came arcing over again, firing at the base of the wall. As it crumbled down the Assault Marines jumped over and into packed squads of surprised cultists. Their screams filled the air as the marines tore them apart with their chainswords. The wall collapsed completely and the Terminators strode through, smashing their way through rubble as they continued on to the cell block. Adriel turned to Chapter Master, pointing to the device embedded in her chestplate: “This device blocks my powers, I’m not going in there unable to defend myself.” Chapter Master attempted to pull off the device but it was very strongly attached, he began to crack the armour instead. Swatting Chapter Master’s hand away, Adriel protested: “Stop, you’ll take off the whole thing!” Turiel remarked: “I don’t see the problem with that!” The three Revenants shared a laugh as Adriel looked at them with disgust, Chapter Master allowed himself a small chuckle before replying: “It’s alright, just stay behind us and you’ll be fine.” Chapter Master and the Revenants stalked off into the compound, following the trail of destruction left by Captain Brethorius and his assault team. Adriel followed hemmed between the marines with no chance of slipping away. She spotted a small pouch hanging from Kurt's belt, she snatched it from him without hesitation and looked inside: "These...these are the soulstones from the Eldar who fell when the Red Giants attacked our ship and captured me! I must return them to the infinity circuit!" Kurt moved to take back the pouch of stones by Chapter Master stayed his hand: "Let her keep her baubles Kurt, we have no use for them." Adriel and the marines passed through a large hole in the block wall as Solenos related all the information the revenant’s had gathered to Chapter Master. Chapter Master contacted Brethorius: “Brother, how goes the battle?” “Much better than expected brother, we’ve yet to encounter any Red Giants, just their lackeys. We’ve taken no casualties.” Chapter Master was surprised, he turned to Solenos: “Didn’t you estimate at least two dozen in the grounds and probably more in the bowels of the block?” Solenos gave his confused reply: “Yes, definitely! Where could they have gone?!” Chapter Master didn’t bother to guess and picked up his pace, forging deeper into the block, the Revenants followed and Adriel was pushed along between them. Gradually descending into a rudimentary but functional underground facility, Chapter Master saw the assault team ahead, prevented from moving further by a mysterious translucent-red barrier. As Chapter Master got closer he saw what was behind, a large cavern, filled with the Red Giants, at the centre, on a large plinth, was Ashkenor the Wrathbringer. Brethorius smashed his Thunder Hammer against the barrier to no avail. Walking over to Brethorius, Chapter Master inquired: “What’s the situation brother?” “Doesn’t look good, we’ve no way past this field.” Chapter Master walked up to the field’s surface and focussed on Ashkenor with barely contained rage. Ashkenor turned to Chapter Master, and held up a remote detonator. Chapter Master slammed his fists against the barrier and roared: “NO!!!” Ashkenor flashed him an evil smile before flicking the switch and Chapter Master winced as multiple dull thuds echoed from the surface. Sated with the souls of the sacrificed, a swirling portal of warp energy formed beside the Sorcerer, and the Red Giants began to file through. Ashkenor was last, and as he passed through the portal the psykic barrier dissolved. The marines charged towards the portal but it collapsed when they were just a few feet away. Brethorius cursed colourfully: “Accursed, cowardly, murdering scum!” Chapter Master sighed deeply, before calling over his vox: “All forces return to the ‘Aspera Dominus’, target has escaped.” Chapter Master sat down on the plinth as Brethorius and the rest of the marines headed back to the surface, errant shots ringing out as they mopped up any remaining cultists. Sensing Chapter Master’s depression, Adriel sat next to him and inquired: “Why do you hunt this single sorcerer so vehemently?” The two were alone in the cavern when Chapter Master replied, staring at the floor as he did so: “He almost destroyed this planet and humiliated my Chapter, and to add injury to insult he corrupted one of my officers and drove a company to rebellion, who were then forced to depart the sector, I do not know when they will return, if ever. Both events cost the lives of several brothers.....” Adriel put her hand on his shoulder: “I’m sure you’ll get another chance mon-keigh, and I hope so too, I’d very much like to see him dead for all the Eldar he killed during my capture.” Chapter Master rose from his seat on the ground, and then helped Adriel up: “C’mon, there’s a cell waiting for you on our Battle Barge.” She pulled away for a moment before Chapter Master laughed: “Haha, just returning the favour! Don’t worry it’s.....relatively comfortable.” Adriel huffed as they began walking to the surface: “I suppose it’ll have to do.......thank you, by the way, for rescuing me, and pass on my thanks to those three invisible ones.” Suddenly a unseen voice replied: “Oh don’t worry, we heard.” Category:Stories Narratives and Fluff